RTS Student TV Awards Announced

The winners of the 14th RTS Student Television Awards have now been announced. The ceremony was held on Friday at the The Barbican Centre, London and was hosted by Comedian and Presenter Tom Deacon and Chaired by Director of BBC North Peter Salmon. The Awards are designed to celebrate the achievements of students nationally – the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Awards were judged in four categories including Fiction, Entertainment, Factual and Animation.
In the Undergraduate Fiction category, students from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama – Louis Paxton, Stuart Ewan and team – received the award for their humorous zombie film with a twist, Choreomania. The University of Wales' Joe Sharp and Lauren Muchan's documentary, Letters to Angola took the prize for Factual, while Nick White & Team, from The Arts University College at Bournemouth were awarded the Animation prize for Lullaby, a computer animation tackling the difficult and sensitive subject of child abuse.
The Entertainment award went to the University of Lincoln's Alex Holland and his team for comedy sketch show Best Friends that Love Each Over. The judges called it "an ambitious project that was hugely impressive and revealed massive potential in both the on and off screen talent."
In the Postgraduate categories, students from the National Film and Television School (NFTS) scooped a hat trick of Awards. Tom Green, Mahalia Rimmer and Purnima Phansalkar were honoured in the Fiction category for Brixton 85, about a young man’s actions which spark terror and violence in his local community. The judges described it as "Classy…a film which captured the era and took a big subject and made it its own with a very distinctive voice."
Mike O’ Leary and his team's portrayal of a 10 year old boy's journey into his own future, Not Safe for Work was victorious in the Entertainment category, while Philip Bacon, Mahalia Rimmer and Mo Bazazi made it a fantastic three for the NFTS with Yellow Belly End which scooped the Animation prize. The judges called it a "thought -provoking, truly original film that combined music, style and animation to create a world and mood of its own."
Jennifer Fearnley received the award for best Postgraduate Factual for Stuck on the Edge, a film about a remarkable 100 year-old woman.
A full list of the winners is available at:www.rts.org.uk
(BMcN)